Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy says: "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it." Science and Health, p. 57 How wonderfully comforting to know that happiness is the outcome of Truth and Love, and not of human circumstance! Happiness is a spiritual condition, expressing the perpetual harmony of God, and of man as His image. It is inherent in the spiritual reality of being.
When considering the idea of genuine happiness, I've found it helpful to think of man as the direct outcome, or expression, of God, what we might call the "God-beam." The sunbeam' light and warmth are directly from the sun—the beam is the immediate outcome of the sun. In a similar way, man is the shining forth of divine Mind, God, and therefore naturally expresses the qualitie of God such as love, joy, harmony, and happiness. Man cannot be separated from God and His qualities any more than the sunbeam can be separated from the sun. So the belief that happiness is a fluctuating human condition is false, and this belief can be superseded by the demonstration of continuous happiness, here and now.
Happiness is not limited to certain people or places. No one is excluded, regardless of the conditions under which he or she may appear to live. All, as children of God, are inseparable from the divine source of happiness. Separation from those close to us, disease, accident, or some other misfortune cannot truly take happiness away. Nor can health, friendship, or luxurious surroundings of themselves create it. Joy and happiness are unbounded qualities of God, ever-present good—the present reality of our direct relation to God.
